Staying up-to-date with predicted home furnishings trends allows Culp to make products that will be successful in the marketplace.

S uccessful home furnishings textile companies understand that they are in a fashion-driven industry. It’s an industry where designers must know what’s trending in the world of fabric and décor. Additionally, they must also understand factors influencing the ways that homeowners utilize their living spaces. In business for 50 years, Culp Inc., High Point, N.C., is one such successful textile company.

Tammy Buckner, Culp Upholstery Fabrics senior vice-president of Marketing & Design for Residential Fabrics, and Donna Morrison, vice president and creative director, are closely involved with following trends to help inform the company’s product decisions.

“We always stay up-to-date on the latest trends that are influencing consumer buying decisions and those are the catalyst for our innovation and product development strategy and direction,” Buckner stated.

What follows is a look at spring 2022 trends.

With travel still limited, consumers are looking to social media for trend direction. Pinterest, Houzz, and even Tik Tok have become important sources for consumers looking to find new trends and styles.

With more than 400 million users, one of the biggest drivers of trends is Pinterest. Each season, Pinterest releases its design trend predictions. In 2020 and 2021, 8 out of 10 of Pinterest’s predictions came true. Pinterest isn’t just ahead of trends, it’s also where trends grow the fastest and stick the longest. Pinterest trends increased about 56 percent in their first six months, while trends spotted elsewhere only grew about 38 percent during that same time.

Some of the trends Pinterest is predicting for 2022 include:

Approximately 40 million people per month use Houzz to search for renovation ideas. Some 90 percent of Houzz users are homeowners, and 72 percent are between 25-54 years old. Houzz is predicting three main trends for 2022:

Tik Tok is a major predictor of trends, and the platform is growing at a fast rate. Whether or not someone is a Tik Tok user, the platform still has influence. Many how-to videos such as how to refinish a piece of furniture or a cooking demonstration, and many posts seen on Instagram — perhaps a showroom or home walk-through — are made on Tik Tok and released on other social media platforms, so much so, that it does influence how consumers are buying today. Tik Tok is predicting that it will reach 755 million users in 2022, with 60-percent growth in 2020 and 40-percent growth in 2021.

Tik Tok predictions for home furnishings include:

Home furnishings trends right now are going very casual. Instead of a lot of pattern, consumers are seeking more textures and mix-and-match in soft, relaxed, comfortable fabrics. There also is a desire that fabrics accent the natural elements brought into the home.

Some of the most important trends Culp is currently focused on include:

The demand for performance fabrics is something that is driving a lot of innovations at Culp. The performance trend has given a huge boost to its LiveSmart® brand, which has been the company’s premium brand for about five years now. Since its launch, the company has expanded different areas where it sees demand for performance fabrics. LiveSmart is cleanable, stain-resistant, water-repellent, and now also is fluorine-free. LiveSmart technology combines a performance fiber with a performance finish, so it gives the fabrics inherent durability and longevity. It’s great for families with pets and children — people who use their furniture heavily every day.

The LiveSmart product line includes:

Culp has offered LiveSmart Evolve fabric for more than three years now. Initially, there was some resistance. Some of retailers said it wasn’t for them, that their customers didn’t want to pay more for a “sustainable fabric” option. This attitude is something the company has seen a huge shift in lately. There is a bit of a disconnect going on between consumers and retailers. In the past, consumers liked the idea of sustainable fabrics, but they didn’t want to pay more. Attitudes have now changed. Consumers are asking for sustainable options and are definitely willing to pay more.

The fact that 75 percent of people value sustainability over brand name is another big change. A lot of small companies, especially e-commerce companies focused on sustainability, are making a huge impact on customers, and customers want to spend their money with those retailers. Today, Culp sees consumers pushing retailers to be more sustainable.

One of the important factors Culp considered when creating its LiveSmart Evolve brand of fabric was traceability. Greenwashing is common — where companies say they are sustainable, but upon examination, they really aren’t. Culp wanted to be sure it could trace the sustainability factor all the way through the supply chain. This traceability is something that Greensboro, N.C.-based Unifi Inc. offers with its Repreve® yarn. Each fiber is stamped with Unifi’s U-Trust branding, which gives consumers and retailers a certifiable way to trace the fabric and prove that it is made with sustainable materials. This fiber enables Culp to certify every fabric it introduces.

Additionally, retailers now can include a certification number with their frames and anything they produce using these sustainable fabrics that the consumer can punch into the Unifi portal, and actually see the number of recycled bottles that went into their piece of furniture. This is a big step for the industry, and the consumer can really see the impact of their purchasing choice.

To date, Culp has incorporated more than 86 million recycled plastic bottles into its LiveSmart Evolve fabric, which is an exciting innovation for the company and a step it is really proud of. Culp feels like this is a space where it can really make a difference and the company continues to grow its line.

Some Culp customers use exclusively recycled materials. They use recycled filling, biodegradable bags and recycled steel for the frames, for example. There are many manufacturers who focus on sustainability from beginning to end, from the process to the product they are making. Culp offers its LiveSmart Evolve fabrics in multiple price points to open up the marketplace and make its products available to consumers in all segments of the market.

“It has been a period of time in our business where there have not been many new products introduced at retail,” said President and CEO Iv Culp. “You can see from our designers’ perspectives that there is a lot of opportunity for us with new products. Sustainability and performance will drive the day, but what our designers can do with texture, color and merchandise packages there is a lot of upside to us as we look into some new roll-outs into retail. People have been so busy and so backlogged, that they haven’t been focused on launching new items, but there is a nice trend of that heading forward that we’re certainly motivated by.”